US pre-open: Futures mixed as July PPI reading remains in focus
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Friday 15 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were pointing to a mixed open ahead of the bell on Friday after hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation numbers weighed on stocks in the previous session.
As of 1230 BST, Dow Jones and S&P 500 were up 0.61% and 0.17%, respectively, while Nasdaq-100 futures had the index opening 0.25% lower.
The Dow closed just 11.01 points lower on Thursday as the strongest rise in wholesale prices in three years saw markets flatline after hopes for an imminent interest-rate cut propelled indices to record highs the previous session. However, major indices were all on track for weekly solid gains, with the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all up more than 1% week-to-date.
Rostro's Joshua Mahony said: "Financial markets are attempting to weigh up the implications of yesterday's PPI inflation report, with the 0.9% surge in both headline and core July metrics sparking a surge in the dollar and weakness across gold, equities, and crypto. The spike in the two-year yield highlights the perception that this could quell the easing activity of the Fed, with the chance of a September 50bp rate cut largely off the table for now. Meanwhile, the base case scenario has now shifted from three cuts this year, to just two.
"Nonetheless, with a largely positive Q2 earnings season drawing to a close, trade concerns easing, and a potential Russia-Ukraine deal in the offing, a slightly slower pace of easing shouldn't necessarily derail markets in any meaningful way. Instead, the risk here is whether the PPI figure is the first indication of a major uptick in consumer inflation that could throw a curveball for markets as they weigh up a potential stagflationary environment of high inflation and job market weakness."
On the macro front, July's import and export price index figures will be released at 1330 BST, as will July retail sales and the New York Empire State manufacturing index, while July capacity utilisation and industrial production data were scheduled for release at 1415 BST, and business inventories and a preliminary reading of August's University of Michigan consumer sentiment index will follow at 1500 BST.
In the corporate space, Intel shares were in the green ahead of the open after Bloomberg revealed the Trump administration was reportedly in discussions to take a stake in the tech giant.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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